100-150 seat orders by year and CSeries big 2016There's no doubt that 2016 was a significant turn-around year for Bombardier in general and for the CSeries program specifically. To help put this in perspective, I'll show you the net order tally by year (includes cancelations) for the CSeries vs. Embraer's E190-E2 and E195-E2, and then even to the Boeing and Airbus offerings.
2009 - CSeries (50)
2010 - CSeries (40)
2011 - CSeries (43), A319neo (26), 737 MAX7 (30)
2012 - CSeries (15), A319neo (19), 737 MAX7 (0)
2013 - CSeries (34), E2 (50), A319neo (0), 737 MAX7 (25)
2014 - CSeries (61), E2 (70), A319neo (2), 737 MAX7 (5)
2015 - CSeries (0), E2 (55), A319neo (3) 737 MAX7 (0)
2016 - CSeries (120), E2 (5), A319neo (8) 737 MAX7 (0)
To put this in perspective, here's the total orders and CSeries share of orders and by year since Bombardier's competitors launched their new jets to compete with the CSeries:
2011 - 43% share of 99 orders
2012 - 44% share of 34 orders
2013 - 31% share of 109 orders
2014 - 44% share of 138 orders
2015 - 0% share of 58 orders
2016 - 90% share of 133 orders
Total since 2009 launch - 55% share (363) of 661 orders.
To see the success of this aircraft in 2016, you also have to look at the moves by Bombardier's competitors - Boeing has all but given up on the MAX7 and is looking to stretch the size of it into some kind of MAX7+ because they can't compete, and they only have two airlines on the MAX7 - WestJet and Southwest. Since 2013, the A319neo only has 13 orders and their head salesman attempted to put the CSeries out of the market for good, calling it an orphan in 2015. Embraer lost out on the big orders and has gone crying to the WTO.
The CSeries is becoming a commercial and critical success with rave reviews and economics figures that beat the brochure. Airlines have taken notice and 2017 will turn out being even bigger for the program and Bombardier.
Take heart, have a Happy New Years, and here's to a prosperous 2017!